Harry Winks

[420Hashish]

Remember when some people on this forum were skeptical of him upon signing? Where are they now? 

[Ed 1]

His fitness levels are mightily impressive. Still making lung busting runs towards the end of the game. 

[fox_favourite]

5 hours ago, 420Hashish said:

Remember when some people on this forum were skeptical of him upon signing? Where are they now? 

Nope never happened. 

Edited 24 September 2023 by fox_favourite

[FoxTimmy2]

7 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

He obviously isn't, but to give them some credit, there are some stats to make an argument for it:

 

 

Ampadu has been great defensively and is helping them start a lot of attacks. In the last few seasons, Leeds have had a suicidal playstyle, so having a calm head that does the unsexy stuff probably is a big deal for them, and there aren't many in the division better at that side of the game.

 

We use Winks totally differently. Winks may not win many tackles, but that's because it's not really his job. In fact, if he is winning tackles, it means something has gone wrong, because he's supposed to be receiving the ball in space and playing it round the corner.

 

However, in terms of the actual best player in the division. Well, I think the answer might surprise you, because it did surprise me. The best player, and TBH it's not even close, is this guy:

 

 

 

To be in the top 7% of players in 11 separate categories is frankly... ridiculous. Even more so because we all think he could be a lot better, which given his ability and standard is true! He's definitely been a LOT better since the international break though, that has been obvious. But these stats don't lie, and that's the reason why teams like Liverpool were sniffing around.

 

Finally, what about the revelation of the season, Wilfred Ndidi? Now that is a really interesting one, and unfortunately there isn't that much data about him in his new role. FBRef has his last 365 data but not his Championship only data, whereas it does for the other players. The best I could find is this from SofaScore:

 

Green is KDH, so other than defensive actions, we see KDH is the all round better player. No real surprise there I would say, though perhaps the data is lagging because Ndidi has been one of the more consistent players this season I think. When his FBRef data is available for just this season, it will be super interesting to see where he ranks, that's for sure.

 

All that said, if you asked me I would say that Harry Winks has been our player of the season by some distance. I jokingly say he wears 8 on the shirt because 8/10 is what you'll get from him every game!

 

 

 

 

Great read this.

[Izzy]

6 hours ago, Tom12345 said:

Or Man U.

I sometimes get Paul Scholes vibes about Winks. So tidy in possession and he's the heartbeat of the team.

 

I know he's not as forward thinking as Scholes and doesn't score worldies, but technically he's right up there.

[martyn]

The biggest concern I have this season is Winks being injured for a period of time. 

 

He is so pivotal to the style, and we don't have anyone else with his skillset.

 

Main thing I didn't know about him was how mobile he is. He can escape from tricky situations with a little drop of a shoulder and burst of acceleration.

[Wymsey]

His calm influence is probably making other players at ease.

 

But am sure he must be frustrated with KDH in particular making fairly basic mistakes zt times.

Edited 24 September 2023 by Wymsey

[Livid]

To be honest when he signed it felt like he was a Spurs cast off as part of the Maddison deal and we had been well and truly done over by Levy. Nothing against him but it felt a bit meh! 

 

Now he’s the first name on the team sheet for me, maybe it’s the game time he’s getting, the system, his role or the level we’re at but he just looks the part. 
 

A fantastic signing. 

[Jobyfox]

10 hours ago, 420Hashish said:

Remember when some people on this forum were skeptical of him upon signing? Where are they now? 

It’s easy to call people out for that, but there might have been some justification for the skepticism 
 

He wasn’t considered good enough for Tottenham and had no obvious PL suitors as far as I’m aware. 
 

Whilst I didn’t consider him a bad signing I had no idea how he’d fair at Championship level and I can’t recall many others predicting great things. Frankly it would have been quite a bold thing to do given his career trajectory to date. 

[Hales]

I love Harry! 💙 I was skeptical about him but he has been fantastic - calm, composed, passionate and so professional. Seems a lovely guy too. Brilliant! First name on the team sheet 💙

[Wolfox]

10 hours ago, 420Hashish said:

Remember when some people on this forum were skeptical of him upon signing? Where are they now? 

I was a bit meh…. But that was from a position of pure ignorance…. I’d only seen him a few times and was a bit cheesed off that he was getting England call ups ahead of Leicester players

 

Now I’ve actually seen him play a few times, I’m a total convert…. The guy oozes class, I just can’t believe that nobody else was in for him or that Spurs let him go

 

interestingly quite a few Spurs fans were talking him up…

[iancognito]

5 hours ago, martyn said:

The biggest concern I have this season is Winks being injured for a period of time. 

 

He is so pivotal to the style, and we don't have anyone else with his skillset.

 

Main thing I didn't know about him was how mobile he is. He can escape from tricky situations with a little drop of a shoulder and burst of acceleration.

Injuries aside, my biggest concern is him getting a 5th yellow next week and missing the Preston game. The way yellows are being dished out this season, he could get a couple of bans. More yellows being given but the ban thresholds remain the same. KDH and Faes are in similar positions I think.

[Kirkbyfox22]

A friend of mine is a spurs season ticket holder.  Says that Winks was unlucky in his last 18 months, they just didn’t play a way that suited him.  He was in no doubt that he would boss the league 

[Bordersfox]

15 hours ago, 420Hashish said:

Remember when some people on this forum were skeptical of him upon signing? Where are they now? 

Well, quite a few of them have come forward and held their hands up admitting they were wrong on this thread.

 

So we can probably move on now.  

[FoxinNotts]

6 hours ago, martyn said:

The biggest concern I have this season is Winks being injured for a period of time. 

 

He is so pivotal to the style, and we don't have anyone else with his skillset.

 

Main thing I didn't know about him was how mobile he is. He can escape from tricky situations with a little drop of a shoulder and burst of acceleration.

Correct. Winks and Ricardo

[glebe_sydneyfox]

https://theathletic.com/4900756/2023/09/27/harry-winks-leicester-passing?source=user-shared-article

[Arriba Los Zorros]

Our best player, in a good team, by an absolute country mile

[MGLCFC]

If Braybrooke doesn't get up to speed quick enough are there any similar players who we could realistically purchase in January who could share the workload and give Winks some recovery time? 

Edited 28 September 2023 by MGLCFC

[STEVIE B]

On 24/09/2023 at 12:35, martyn said:

The biggest concern I have this season is Winks being injured for a period of time. 

 

He is so pivotal to the style, and we don't have anyone else with his skillset.

 

Main thing I didn't know about him was how mobile he is. He can escape from tricky situations with a little drop of a shoulder and burst of acceleration.

Probably every team will have a player that fans view as similar, whether it be a player like Winks, a striker, a defensive rock or a talisman. 

46 games is such a long season, luck will come into it, as will possibly picking the odd game to rest 'important' players. 

 

[les-tah]

2 hours ago, MGLCFC said:

If Braybrooke doesn't get up to speed quick enough are there any similar players who we could realistically purchase in January who could share the workload and give Winks some recovery time? 

Braybrooke is 19 and not even back from an ACL rupture and barely has a senior football appearance to his name.. if anyone thinks hes getting anywhere near our team in the next 2 years your absolutely off your rocker

Edited 28 September 2023 by les-tah

[gurru991]

18 minutes ago, les-tah said:

Braybrooke is 19 and not even back from an ACL rupture and barely has a senior football appearance to his name.. if anyone thinks hes getting anywhere near our team in the next 2 years your absolutely off your rocker

Maresca is different gravy from conventional managers. If he thinks you can do it you will get a chance !!

[mad biker]

31 minutes ago, les-tah said:

Braybrooke is 19 and not even back from an ACL rupture and barely has a senior football appearance to his name.. if anyone thinks hes getting anywhere near our team in the next 2 years your absolutely off your rocker

Don`t be so ridiculous, he`s back in training as is Alves and both of them are very much in Enzo`s thoughts, it`s you that`s off your rocker bud !

[coolhandfox]

47 minutes ago, les-tah said:

Braybrooke is 19 and not even back from an ACL rupture and barely has a senior football appearance to his name.. if anyone thinks hes getting anywhere near our team in the next 2 years your absolutely off your rocker

Would anyone have predicted Macteer would be starting game this season and have 5 goals to his name.

 

Stranger things have happen.

[pmcla26]

The holding midfield role is probably the least physically demanding role within this system, which is partly why I think we’ve seen Winks play so well, as well as him also having played above this level throughout his career. 
 

I’d put more money on Braybrooke being introduced quicker into the fold than Alves for this reason and because we will want to start Winks in every league game possible as he’s so integral. This system is perfect for Braybrooke to break through in with the game he plays, and I can see Maresca integrating him in slowly and with good effect, too. Absolutely ideal manager to bring the best out of him with his philosophy on football and how important the number 6 role is in our set up. 

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, les-tah said:

Braybrooke is 19 and not even back from an ACL rupture and barely has a senior football appearance to his name.. if anyone thinks hes getting anywhere near our team in the next 2 years your absolutely off your rocker

...it is not as if he would be playing with one leg!!!

If you are saying his recovery from the ACL injury and rehab will make it difficult for him to come back, I can understand your hesitation. But the talent that he has will see him brought in at the earliest opportunity, McAteer, and Madivadua were given opportunities, and Braybrooke has too much talent to be sidelined due to age or the belief that Maresca hasn't got the bottle to put his judgment to the test.